A low-carbon, secure, reliable, resilient, accessible, cost-efficient, and market-based pan-European integrated energy system supplying the whole economy and paving the way for a fully CO2-neutral and circular economy by the year 2050, while maintaining and extending global industrial leadership in energy systems during the energy transition.

Implementing the ETIP SNET Vision 2050 will require major investments for the large-scale deployment of energy conversion and storage devices, the upgrade and extension of the energy networks, and the use of digital solutions. These costs will be offset by the optimized welfare to society through the coupling of the various energy networks and their components as well as the avoided costs of climate change in the upcoming decades, while utilising locally available resources. As estimated by the IEA, the costs of not acting now could be worth several times the cost of investing against climate change.

The ETIP SNETVision 2050 is the basis for defining the specifications for further research and innovation needs in the transition from today towards Europe’s energy systems of the future. Its purpose is to inspire all stakeholders to discover the RD&I challenges associated with a 2050 low-carbon, fully-integrated, and circular pan-European energy system with the electricity system as its backbone.